Dodgers drop series on bases-loaded walk

Loss moves Los Angeles out of first-place tie with D-backs

By
Anne Rogers

August 12, 2018

DENVER -- Different day, different pitcher -- same result.Dylan Floro walked in a run, and the Dodgers suffered their second straight walk-off loss to the Rockies, 4-3.Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had to pick his poison in the bottom of the eighth after DJ LeMahieu singled and Trevor Story struck out

DENVER -- Different day, different pitcher -- same result.Dylan Floro walked in a run, and the Dodgers suffered their second straight walk-off loss to the Rockies, 4-3.Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had to pick his poison in the bottom of the eighth after DJ LeMahieu singled and Trevor Story struck out swinging. Floro intentionally walked David Dahl to face Ian Desmond, who was 0-for-3 on Sunday. Desmond grounded out softly, but LeMahieu got to third and Dahl to second.Floro intentionally walked Ryan McMahon -- the Dodgers weren't going to take any chances after McMahon hit the game-winning home run on both Friday and Saturday nights.Chris Iannetta had gone 6-for-8 with three RBIs in the first two games of the series, but was 0-for-6 in the last two games heading into his final at-bat. Floro took the chance -- and threw five pitches before walking in the run.

"You try to put guys in the best chance to have success, and I just felt right there, putting Dahl on base with the open base and getting to Desmond was the right decision," Roberts said. "You got McMahon, who's swinging the bat well and an open base, and you get a guy who really gets right-handed [batters] out and a guy that doesn't hit right-handed pitching."Unfortunately, we had the walk there."Saturday night's home run to McMahon hurt, but this one might have stung even more. The Dodgers worked their way back from a 3-0 deficit to tie it in the seventh but failed to get anything done against Rockies reliever Wade Davis (2-6) in the top of the ninth.And the loss put the Dodgers, who are now 64-55, out of their first-place tie with the D-backs in the National League West race. On Sunday, Arizona won to avoid a sweep vs. the Reds, and the Dodgers dropped to second place -- with the Rockies steadily creeping up on them, just 1 1/2 back from first place.With a four-game series, the Dodgers had a chance to widen the gap between a divisional opponent, but instead dropped three consecutive one-run games."You're not going to lie about it, it is a blow," starting pitcher Rich Hill said. "You have to regroup. We're going back home to play the Giants, who is another team that's right there. The thing is, you just learn from the mistakes we made here. I know things I have to tighten up. Obviously, this is going to be a tough race all the way down to the finish."

Hill pitched well for six innings, despite giving up two earned runs on four hits and a home run to Charlie Blackmon. The unearned run came in the first inning when Blackmon reached base thanks to Chris Taylor missing a high popup. Story brought him home with a sac fly."I think the Blackmon home run was the difference in the game," Hill said. "Unfortunately, I didn't make a good pitch right there, so it's frustrating. Overall, the ball did come out of my hand the way I wanted it to, but the one mistake to Charlie."The bullpen that had blown two leads over the past two games with home runs from McMahon settled down with John Axford going two scoreless innings, but Floro (4-2) suffered the same fate as Zachary Rosscup on Friday night and JT Chargois on Saturday.While the bullpen continues to deal with the trickle-down effect of closer Kenley Jansen's absence, Roberts also said it's important for the offense to pick up what the pitching is missing.The Dodgers trailed, 3-0, until the seventh inning, when Rockies starter Chad Bettis gave up a leadoff walk and reliever Jake McGee, going lefty on righty with Justin Turner, gave up a double. James Dozier cut into the Rockies' lead with a two-run, two-out RBI double.The next inning, Matt Kemp hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 3.

Besides that, though, the Dodgers were just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position on Sunday. Manny Machado went 0-for-4 with a strikeout, Taylor was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, and Yasmani Grandal and Player Page for Max Muncy were both 0-for-3."We have confidence in the guys," Machado said. "If we want to win, if we want to go to the next level, everybody's going to have to step up and do their job. At the end of the day, we all have confidence in each other. All 25 guys we have in here, we've got to go out there and battle. We're in it together. Whatever happens, happens. That's a good ballclub over there."MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Rockies easily could have gone up, 3-0, before Blackmon's home run if not for the spot-on throw that right fielder Yasiel Puig delivered to Machado in the bottom of the fourth inning to get an inning-ending double play.

Before that, Puig overthrew second base, allowing Dahl to reach second on his RBI single. But Puig made up for it when he caught Desmond's long fly ball and then fired the throw to Machado to get Dahl out at third.HE SAID IT
"It'll be pretty easy. We're going to go back home, we've got Clayton [Kershaw] going tomorrow, so our guys do a good job resetting and refocusing. Every day is different, so I'm sure we'll be fine." -- Roberts, on if it will be tough to bounce back from the series against the RockiesUP NEXT
The Dodgers return home for a three-game series against the Giants on Monday night at 7:10 p.m. PT. Left-hander Clayton Kershaw (5-5, 2.58 ERA) will face lefty Madison Bumgarner (4-4, 2.69 ERA) for the 11th time, and first time since 2016. Kershaw last faced the Giants on April 8, allowing just one run on six hits in seven innings. In 42 career starts against the Giants, he's gone 22-10 with a 1.60 ERA.